I could have used Bob the Builder or Handy Manny today! I would have settled for Tim the Toolman Taylor! Sam bought a climber/triangle/something or other for the kids and it arrived today. I figured it would be an easy thing to put together, especially since the reviews said so. Then, I opened the box to discover that the only tool I needed was – the allen wrench!
If you are unfamiliar with my thoughts on this God awful tool, you can read the blog I posted about it back in 2018 here:
Here’s the thing – Andrew is climbing everything. The other day, he had figured out how to climb up the living room windows. Don’t ask! Sam figured this would be a good way for him to climb things. It really is a very cool thing. It has a rock wall/slide that they can climb up and slide down. The triangle is perfect for climbing and then there is a half circle thing that reminds me of something you’d see on a playground.
It didn’t take long for my fingers and thumb to start hurting because of how hard it was to get the screws in. After screwing in about 30 of the 50 screws, my thumb started to blister. Eventually, I ripped the skin off my thumb and needed to throw a bandage on it. My wife ran and got me one – a Cocomelon bandage.
My wife got a kick out of me having to out that silly thing on!
Once the project was finished, the kids really had a blast!
At some point, the rock wall/slide became a table and they had a tea party!
My favorite thing, however, is the fact that they took the half circle piece (seen above on the left) and turned it over. They put a blanket over the slats and rocked in it.
God, do I love these two!!
Yesterday we took a walk around the neighborhood and even played a bit outside. Ella is always excited to see her puppy friends. Melody is one of her favorites. Melody has cancer and her owners are always so nice to us when we see them.
It seems like we’ve been cooped up forever and they were loving being outside. Andrew was excited to see the sun!
This picture was taken just before he got in the red and yellow car. It had rained the day before and of course, it collected some water on the seat. That didn’t stop Andrew from going for a drive. Naturally, I had to get a picture of the results of that drive ….
I’m so glad it is warming up. I’m looking forward to many days outside with them!
I truly need to organize the funny things that Ella says (and funny stories in general) and keep them in a book. Here are just a couple examples:
Sam was getting the kids ready for bed this week. She was trying to get them in the bathroom to brush their teeth. The following conversation takes place:
Sam: Ella get in here and brush your teeth.
Ella: I don’t got no sugar bugs I don’t need to brush my teeth.
Sam: Ella everyone has sugar bugs every single day. Get in here and brush your teeth before the sugar bugs eat all your teeth and make them fall out.
Ella: Mommy, I think I want that! Then the tooth fairy comes!
____
That story ties in with another incident that happened today. Sam showed Ella a picture of herself as a baby. She had a pacifier (She called it a Nini) in her mouth. (Side note: When we took her Nini away, we told her the Nini Fairy comes to all the big kids who no longer need a Nini and takes it to give it to other babies who need them.)
Ella: Is that the baby who got my Nini?
Sam: No, that is you when you were a baby with your Nini
Ella: The Nini Fairy and the Tooth Fairy are the same! They both take your stuff!!
____
Here is a story that I am not proud of, but I know all parents can relate. I was with the kids at Menards getting supplies for painting. My best friend, Jeff, called and we were shooting the breeze and catching up. While we’re on the phone, Ella is babbling away. Jeff chuckled and said, “You wait so long for them to start talking and then they just keep on talking!!”
This led to talk about how fast kids grow up. He mentioned that his daughter would soon be heading off to college, and he’s not gonna know what to do in the “empty nest.” I don’t remember exactly what he said that made me react this way (maybe it was the cost of room and board at the college, I honestly can’t recall), but I said out loud (and oblivious that I was with my kids), “Son of a bitch!” You can only guess what happened next….
Ella thought that was pretty funny and began to repeat it. At first, I wasn’t sure that I had actually heard what I thought I heard. However, after a couple more times of her saying it, it became even more clear.
Me: Don’t say that, baby, that’s a bad word
Ella: (Says it again)
Me: Ella, don’t say that honey, that is not a word that you should say.
Ella: You said it, Daddy
Me: (Now feeling really bad) I know, but Daddy shouldn’t have said it either.
Ella: Why not?
Me: Because it is a bad word
Ella: Really?
Me: Yes
Ella: (Repeats it again as we are standing in the check out line)
Never a dull moment!!
___
Ella is playing with fake veggies. Sam and I tell her we are going to put in a garden this year. So she starts talking about the veggies we should plant:
Ella: “We can plant cucumbers, lettuce, peppers, zucchini, bananas, hot dogs, and mac and cheese…..”
Anyone know how to harvest mac and cheese??
The above was taken at the Father Daughter Dance earlier this month
Our wedding anniversary was this past Sunday. Five years! Sam had to work Sunday, and we had both taken a day off to celebrate. She took Monday off and I took yesterday. Originally, the plan was to take a little overnight trip somewhere. However, after much talk, we decided that there were things we could do around the house that we have put off for a long time. Having the kids and Nana and Papa’s was going to make it a lot easier!
When I first moved in with Sam, she had a couple racks on the wall where she hung her clothes. There is no closet in the bedroom. As I recall, we were sleeping one night and one rack pulled out of the wall and fell to the floor. We pulled the other rack off, too, and it left a few holes in the wall. I patched them – years ago – with the intention of sanding and repainting. That never happened – until this week.
On Monday afternoon, Sam dropped the kids off and I pulled all the furniture out of the bedroom. Our intention was to paint it with a color we had intended for the kitchen (and never used), but Sam and I decided it might be a bit too dark. So when she got back, we went to dinner and then ran to Menard’s for paint.
We decided on dinner at our favorite steak house. Both of us ordered Filet Mignon and enjoyed actually having some face time together. It was so nice to have kid free conversation with each other. It felt like forever since we have been out to eat together.
Menard’s is right down the road from Lucky’s, so we stopped there and looked at paint swatches. The bedroom was a bright yellow color and we debated painting with the tan we had planned for the kitchen. We both knew that we wanted to stay with a light color because the room is already small. Sam found a yellow that is almost a cream color that we both liked. We bought the paint and went home.
Once we arrived at home, we donned our “paint” clothes and got to work. We both agreed before starting that we hate taping the room! What a tedious task! We also both stated our concerns about the color. You know how you see a swatch and think, “Oh, I like that” and then hate it when you see it on the wall?! The good news is, it looks good and we both like it!
Our hope was that we’d only need one coat of paint. It really dried quickly and only one wall needed a second coat. The only reason it did was that I had marked off some things on the wall to hang pictures and it bled through the paint. Once I put the second coat on, it looked great.
We had pulled the mattress off the bed and dragged it into the living room, which is where we slept. We left it out there and when the kids came home they thought it was a hoot to have the bed on the floor. We spent a lot of Tuesday all curled up on our bed watching TV and being silly. PRICELESS family time!
Sharing a Room
One big change for all of us was that we moved Andrew’s crib out of our room. He and Ella are now sharing a room. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. We’re working through this right now. Andrew will get up off and on through the night, and there is the fear that he will wake up Ella if he cries. Believe me, the last thing we need is both of them up in the middle of the night. Fingers crossed.
We’re already pretty sure that Andrew is a genius. Earlier today, I walked to their room and couldn’t believe what I saw. Andrew had pushed Ella’s bed close to his crib and was actually standing on the railing and was trying to climb into his crib. How he knew to do that, I just don’t know. The incident is one that assures us that there will be more ER visits in the near future.
Bunnies!
We took the kids to get Spring pictures done on Friday. We got the pictures back on Monday and they came out SO good. Kudo’s again to Beth at Enjoy the View Photography for capturing precious moments with our kids.
The photo above is probably my favorite one of the two of them. Perfect smiles and I love that Ella is holding Andrew’s arm. They were both excited to take pictures with real bunnies!
They did so well with them. The bunnies were a bit skittish when they were taken out of the basket, but we still got some good shots. I love that Andrew loves to hug animals. He does it with our cat all the time. Beth caught him hugging the bunny –
What a wonderful picture! I just love how Ella is looking at Andrew here!
The past few days have been filled with plenty of amazing moments. I am so glad to have been able to share them with my beautiful wife and my kids.
I shamefully admit that I don’t offer much to my wife when she needs a grocery list. I tend to offer up the same things I always do.
We are very different. I can eat a rotation of the same 7 meals every week if I had to, so I very rarely explore other avenues. On the rare occasion I am in the store shopping, I may see something that I want to try.
Sam, on the other hand, gets sick of eating the same meals all the time. Tonight is a good example. She reached out to her mom and asked for meal ideas. Tonight, for the first time in our marriage, we are having beef tips and noodles. I can’t wait!
At any rate, the reason for the blog today is to share a couple items that Sam bought this week that are absolutely delicious!! You can bet that they will be staples on our list from now on.
We’re always looking for something to snack on. Sam saw something on Pinterest or TikTok where someone took some Naan Bread pieces and made little pizzas.
She loves hummus. I don’t. But I LOVE garlic. So she found this garlic dip. I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but when I scooped some onto one of the pieces of bread it was truly amazing!
I swear, Sam and I could have eaten the whole tub of this stuff! Wow. It reminds me of the garlic stuff you get when you order Middle Eastern food. In the past, we’ve had chicken kabobs and the garlic stuff that came with it was very similar.
The anecdotes in the blog today are a hodge podge of things that really wouldn’t work as a complete blog, so I thought I would just throw them together here in one. Please forgive the randomness …
Missed Milestone
Somewhere over the last couple weeks, I neglected to mark a milestone. I would have never guessed that I would post over 900 blogs when I started this site, but I have! Many of you have been here from the start and I thank you for reading. Thank you for reading about everything from diaper changes to my favorite movies and music. Thank you for listening to my many rants. Thank you for supporting the many changes my life has gone through and for your wonderful encouragement.
Maybe I have enough written to compile that book I have been meaning to write?
No More High Chair
Andrew has officially outgrown the high chair. I admit, it was nice to be able to put him in there and know that he would stay in one spot while he ate, however, it was time. So Sam and I brought out Ella’s table and now they can eat together. The above picture is in the middle of the living room temporarily while we rearranged the room.
We Got a Tonie
A funny thing happened this week. My wife was telling me, “I think I wanna get one of those Tonie Boxes.” I had no idea what she was talking about. She told me that it was like an Alexa for kids. You place this “Tonie” on the top and it reads books or plays stories. I had no idea what it looked like, but I pictured a small speaker with like a flash drive on it or something.
That same day – not 2 hours later – a box was out on the porch. My friend Margaret had sent the kids a birthday/Christmas present. I opened the box and I saw what looked like a package you might find a set of books in. Nope, it was a Tonie! My wife and I looked at each other in disbelief.
When I called Margaret so the kids could say thank you, I told her the story of our conversation and the arrival of her box. She couldn’t believe it. She told me that she saw it while walking through Meijer. She had no idea if the kids would even like it, and made sure to include the gift receipt in case we wanted to take it back. She included a few extra Tonie characters in the box and they kids love it!!
There are many Tonie characters you can get that tell stories and play music. You can even create your own content. If you have a little one, it is worth it!
Family Comedian
My daughter, Ella, is a constant source of laughter. Many times that comes at my expense. The following conversation took place this week:
Ella (with a hairbrush): Daddy, can I brush your hair?
Me: Baby, I don’t have any hair to brush
Ella: Yes you do!
I posted this picture on my Facebook and a friend commented, “Throw that brush away! She doesn’t want to catch the BALD!”
Parental Funny
I saw this posted on one of the Instagram pages I follow and got a good chuckle. ALL parents can relate to this!
My son, Andrew, has had a hard time sleeping since he was born. We took him to an ENT and they found that he had laryngomalacia. A sleep study was ordered and it showed that the laryngomalacia was leading to sleep apnea (That’s what the photo above is). This led to a minor surgery to try to correct it. I blogged about that here:
A few months after the surgery, Andrew was back in my sleep lab to see if the surgery had indeed corrected the sleep apnea. This time around, our pediatric neurologist wanted to check for seizure activity and muscle movements as well. The study results showed that the apnea got better, but hadn’t gone away completely.
My wife and I knew exactly what that meant – CPAP. We both have run many sleep studies on children and many CPAP titrations as well. They are not always an easy thing. I will be honest, I was not looking forward to running his CPAP study, anticipating that he was going to fight us all night long. However, to our surprise, he actually did quite well and slept most of the night.
Sam went and picked up his CPAP machine today. Before going on, I will tell you that the past week has been very difficult for us (more for her). They terrible twos are kicking in BIG time with Ella. Both kids have been a handful and hard to deal with. That being said, knowing that Sam was going to be the one to be with him for his first night at home with CPAP had me praying that all went well.
Sam said he cried for a little bit, so she put on Elmo. He calmed down and when she told him it was bed time, he laid down and went to sleep! She sent me this picture:
I couldn’t be more proud of my little C-Papper! What a champ! I know that this is going to really help him in the future. Hopefully, he will only need to wear it a few months.
Because of work schedules, it is not often that I get a night with the family. I swapped nights with a coworker because I had hoped to go to a daddy daughter dance with Ella. Tickets went fast and I was put on a wait list for that, and it never panned out. However, the program that is helping Andrew with his speech had a family night scheduled at one of the local museums, and we went there instead.
I hadn’t been to the Sloan in some time because Dante’ and Dimitri are older now. A couple years ago they had something on the ballot about funds for the Cultural Center area. I voted for it and it passed. So they put a bunch of funds into it and the newly opened Sloan Museum of Discovery was part of the results.
Thursday evening was our first visit there and the renovations are just amazing. They brought over some of the stuff from the old museum, but also added SO much more! Only parts of the building were open that night, so I hope to be able to go back and check out everything we missed.
There is an entire area of water play that the kids just loved!!
The water room was long with a TON of things to do. In the above picture, the water in front of the kids has smoke under it. When you turn the orange thing in front of that, the water turns off and the smoke rises. It’s actually very cool.
In the middle of the water is a little “Michigan” with trees and clouds to make rain. It is the little details that I was really impressed with.
Another new addition to the museum is a HUGE tree house. Both kids played in it, but Ella loved climbing up to the top!
One of the things that came over from the old museum was an ambulance. This one may have been a newer model than the old place. Andrew spent a lot of time in it!
All of the switches do something. Some turn on the siren, some turn on the flashers, some turn on the dome lights, etc. Andrew was just happy to be at the wheel!
Another things that came over from the old museum was a “car” that you can work on. Ella wasted no time tackling the battery on it!
They had crafts set up for the kids to do when we arrived. One of them was “marble painting.” You took a piece of construction paper and put it in a tray. Then you put drops of paint on the paper. Then you rolled a marble all over the place and the marbles “painted” the paper. They really came out neat.
They had a place to make friendship bracelets, but Ella saw the water room and that was where she wanted to be! At one point they gathered the families who were there into an area in front of the tree house for story time. They read a book and each kid got to take a copy home. Ella was angry that she had to stop playing for the story. All she wanted to do was run around and play. When we tried to get her to sit for story time – she dropped on the floor and it was obvious she was not happy!
I shouldn’t laugh, but this is my favorite photo from the night!
Her and I ended up walking away from the story and she played in the “store” at the museum. They have food items you can shop for and a cash register where you can scan items and pay for them. They also have a “post office” there where you can address envelopes or boxes. She kept very busy.
Andrew stayed for story time and they had some music to dance to afterward. It truly was a wonderful night out with the family. There is a planetarium nearby and I would like to take them there when Andrew is a little older. We are lucky to have such a cool place nearby!
I have never been diagnosed with OCD. That being said, I do tend to be a creature of habit. I tend to take the same way to work every day, I like my coffee the same way every day, and such, but I don’t think I am OCD. My books and DVDs are NOT alphabetized, crooked pictures don’t bother me, etc… There are, however, some things that take my anxiety through the roof.
I love my wife, but I think sometimes she suggests things that she knows will drive me crazy. (Side note: This is probably because I do NUMEROUS things that drive her crazy. She is WAY more OCD than I will ever be!) So let me give you an example of what happened this morning.
After breakfast this morning, she sat with the kids and I for a bit before going to bed. She received some text messages from Andrew’s speech people about things we could do with him. One of those things was to so some sensory games with beans or rice. She came out of the bedroom and went to a cabinet in the kitchen and grabbed a bag of beans.
She told me as she grabbed some Tupperware and cookie sheets what she was doing. She suggested I get a blanket or sheet to put down on the shag rug we have in the living room so they wouldn’t get stuck in the rug. She then grabbed a box of elbow macaroni and opened it. She said, “Ella will want to play, too.”
I put the sheet down and out came the beans and macaroni. Sam gave them a couple mixing cups so they could scoop from one Tupperware dish to the other.
It started out fine. Ella was playing with the macaroni and Andrew had the beans. At some point they swapped.
They also were good about just dumping from one container to the other … for a while.
I’m truly surprised that this photo didn’t catch the beans and macaroni that Andrew was throwing up in the air and all over the living room. (Side Note: Yes, he is wearing his sister’s underwear over his pants. She is potty training and he wanted to wear a pair, too. Does he look ridiculous? Yes, and I am happy if he is happy.)
Half the battle was getting Andrew to NOT eat the raw beans or noodles.
Slowly, but surely, the beans mixed with the macaroni and vice versa. My anxiety was at an all time high as I was trying to keep the beans and noodles out of the carpet. It was everywhere!
Eventually, they lost interest and got lost in a show on TV. When the alarm went off to tell Ella it was time to use the potty, I took advantage of her being off the sheet and wrapped all the beans and macaroni in it. I wrapped it in a big ball and put it in a shopping bag.
Hours later I was still finding beans and noodle on the carpet! I’m sure as a kid, I was making messes with stuff like this, but it was all I could do to not wrap it all up 10 minutes into them playing with it!!
I know my wife, and I am sure the beans and noodles will reappear sometime in the near future. I guess I will just wear socks when I am walking around in the living room ….
For the most part, it was a normal morning. Andrew was up first, followed almost immediately by Ella. As I was getting them out of bed, Sam came home from work.
Sam recapped her night at work with me and the kids were taking turns being in her arms. During this time we asked what they wanted for breakfast. We offer them a few choices each day. Today, it was pancakes, waffles, or French toast.
“Waffles!” Ella said!
“French toast, actually sounded good,” Sam said.
I was thinking the same thing, but I figured waffles would be easy for the kids to eat. They usually just hold them in their hand and walk around eating them. Sam reminded me that we had blueberries in the fridge and I would add those to the batter.
I reached up in the cupboard and grabbed the Bisquick. I could tell by the weight of the box in my hand that there probably wasn’t enough for waffles – or pancakes for that matter. So, French toast it was!
Ella always wants to help, so I cracked the eggs into a bowl and had her shake some cinnamon in. She helped me mix it up as the griddle warmed up.
“Do you want smiley face French toast or bear French toast?” Sam asked.
I looked at her puzzled and asked what she meant. She told me that you cut up bananas and can use them for eyes, ears, and a mouth. The kids were excited to help with this step, too.
Ella has a step stool, which Andrew has been using to get to things on counters and why have you. He was standing on it, so Ella needed something to stand in. Sam brought in an laundry basket and turned it upside down. So the two of them were standing on their “stools” and helping mom cut bananas
Once the French toast was done, she dished it out and made bears or smiley faces. Then she cut it up in small pieces for Ella to dip in her syrup, and in slices so Andrew could hold it in his hands.
They both stood on their respective stools and ate as I finished fishing out French toast for Sam and me. After that, we all were just standing in the kitchen, plates on various spots on the counter and each of us eating our breakfast.
As silly as it sounds, this was one of my favorite family breakfasts to date. I shared French toast with Andrew, Sam and Ella were sharing bananas, and we all just enjoyed the moments together as a family.
Hello, my friends. When I last blogged, we were gearing up for a big snow storm. While we didn’t get as much as they were saying, roads were still dangerous and as a bonus we got our white Christmas. I had to laugh at something I saw on Facebook, and had to share here. This pretty much sums up every winter storm forecast here in Michigan:
Snow was to move in on Thursday night and into Friday morning. Many patients called to cancel their appointments that night, so because of low volume, I got to stay home. It was nice to have extra family time. It is very rare to get that time.
I had already taken Friday off. Usually my boys will come over and spend the night and we do Christmas Eve morning as our “Christmas.” Because of the storm, we decided it was best to postpone things until the Monday after Christmas.
On Christmas Eve night, we usually go to Crossroads Village and do the drive through light display. It’s not too far from us and it is always a beautiful sight. On certain nights, you can board the train and see more lights, but the drive through is neat because you get to go through the little village. They pipe Christmas music through the speakers and every thing is just beautiful.
We got the kids dressed and ventured out. It didn’t take long to see just how bad the roads were. We hadn’t been out since the storm, but the roads were just awful. We take many back roads to get there and the wind was blowing across the fields and made the roads solid sheets of ice. It was actually pretty scary. I would have kept driving, but Sam told me to turn around and go back home. That’s what we did.
Earlier in the day we made cookies for Santa. Ella told Sam that Santa should drink milk from a “fancy” cup, so we put it in a wine glass. A few years ago, Sam’s sister Grace (who passed away earlier this year) made a Christmas plate. We have decided that as part of our Christmas tradition, Santa’s cookies would always be put on on that plate.
We placed the cookies on the plate and started to get things ready for the rest of the evening. We had to get the kids in their Christmas pajamas, they had to brush their teeth, and Santa had to get ready to build some stuff. After walking to the living room to gather up a few things, I walked back in the kitchen to see Andrew standing on Ella’s step stool – eating Santa’s cookies!!! Smart kid!
Once the kids were in bed, I went to work. I only had to put together a couple things, and I love being Santa. Ella got a Frozen Castle (she calls it the Elsa and Anna castle) and Andrew got a vacuum (he is all about the vacuum when we clean). They also each got a book from Santa and the rest of the gifts were from mom and dad.
It was nice to see the tree lit, with presents under it, and the baby gate out of the way!!
Honestly, I anticipated that Ella would be the first one up on Christmas morning, but instead, it was Andrew. We actually had to go in and wake Ella up. She seemed uninterested in getting up until we reminded her that it was Christmas and Santa had come.
Andrew loved his vacuum and played with it all morning. It was a hoot to see him “cleaning” the rug!
Ella loved her princess castle and when she got a princess dress, too, she had to put it on!
She was so into it and had all her princesses playing on the castle. I was lucky enough to capture this very cool picture of her playing –
I just love it! She had no idea I was taking this.
We were invited to Sam’s folks for Christmas dinner, which is always nice. My mother-in-law always puts out a big spread with ham, turkey, scalloped or potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and a ton of desserts. My nieces and nephew were there, so the kids all got to play together. It’s always kind of crazy with all of Sam’s siblings there, so I neglected to get any pictures.
Andrew gave us a memorable moment while we were there. Sam’s folks have one of those thin Christmas trees. Andrew, of course, is always curious. While my back was to him, he grabbed something on the tree (probably the string of lights) and started pulling. Naturally, the entire tree came crashing down on top of him!! When I turned around I couldn’t even see him! Thankfully, only one ornament broke. That boy is something else!!
I’m not sure when we left but it was later in the evening and Sam and I were talking about being a bit hungry. We decided to be like the Christmas Story family and we ordered some Chinese food and grabbed McDonald’s for the kids. As crazy as it sounds, we may need to do that every year because it was delicious.
On Monday, the boys came over in the morning. I made up some chocolate chip pancakes, sausage links, eggs, toast, and coffee for me. Ella and Andrew don’t see their big brothers often enough, but they seemed glad to see them.
My dad and Rose came over a bit later and I was glad that my dad got to see all his grandchildren. He brought Ella a Little People Barbie apartment, which is huge and now serves as a “neighbor” to Elsa and Anna’s castle. He brought Andrew some waffle blocks and a bowling set. The boys are older now, so the each got an envelope with cash, much like his mother (my grandma) used to give my brother and I.
As crazy as it was to get everyone together, I am so glad to have gotten this picture with my dad, Rose, and the kids.
As I stated in my Facebook post, it is never long enough when we get together, but I do treasure the time with them.
I am so glad to have had time with my wife, my children and my dad over the holidays. God willing, we will all be able to do it again next year.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 